Another Step towards 1984...Mind Reading Getting Closer to Reality

Something to "think" about....Is the world of the movie "Minority Report" which was set in the year 2054 -coming closer to reality???

After reading the article below I have to wonder....

A link to that movie's sypnosis in case someone reading this post has never heard about it or seen it (and in that case I highly reccomend that they do):

http://www.minorityreport.com/

And a little more info on the world in 2054 as envisioned by this cool movie:

http://www.contactmusic.com/new/home.nsf/webpages/minorityx21x06x02

A few paragraphs from an article on mind reading....

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For the moment, reading minds is a cumbersome process and there is no chance scientists could spy on decision-making surreptitiously. Haynes' studies focus on people who choose between just two alternatives, not the infinite number present in everyday life.

But scientists are making enough progress to make ethicists nervous, since the research has already progressed from identifying the regions of the brain where certain thoughts occur to identifying the very content of those thoughts.

"These technologies, for the first time, give us a real possibility of going straight to the source to see what somebody is thinking or feeling, without them having any ability to stop us," said Dr. Hank Greely, director of Stanford University's Center for Law and the Biosciences.

"The concept of keeping your thoughts private could be profoundly altered in the future," he said.

Civil libertarians are concerned that mind-reading technology may fit into a trend of pre-emptive security measures in which authorities could take action against individuals before they commit a crime - a scenario explored in the 2002 science fiction film "Minority Report."

Already, Britain is creating a national DNA database that would allow authorities to track people with violent predispositions.

In addition, the government has also floated the idea of locking up people with personality disorders that could lead to criminal behavior.

"We need to start thinking about how far we are going to allow these technologies to be used," said Wolpe.

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My thoughts:

Even though the world of "1984" envisioned by George Orwell didn't come to pass that year (the year I graduated from high school by the way), it seems that we are slowly but surely catching up to that world that he depicted in such vivid and sureal terms.....

The story below sheds some light on what scientists are up to these days in the area of "reading minds". Interesting stuff and alot of implications I can see already....most not very positive.
The ability to read a person's thoughts.....hmmm.

I do not know if I am ready for this future that we are carving for ourselves.
Star Trek and science fiction and Orwell's world are coming ever so close.
It is scary to say the least.

Read on for the rest of the story:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/R/READING_MINDS?SITE=WIMIL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT